Rant - my turn

[The Vector Doctor]

I had a brief email discussion with a customer yesterday and I am puzzled.


His emails are in bold, my replies are italics...






Please let me know how much you will charge for vectorization.


Hello, I would be happy to help you out. I cannot find info on you so I will assume you are a new customer


Are you able to open/import vectors or are you sending this to a service/sign shop for output?


Also do you know the fonts used? Tracing letters one by one is more expensive than simply typesetting them




I dont know the font, please let me know how much you will charge me for vectorizing this image also please tell me when you can get it done.


$25 and 24 hours after payment is made


You can direct payment via paypal to this email or I can send a link for you to pay online using a credit card.


Thank you for the response. It seems you don't want to do business. First of all you doubt my identity, second you tell me the price after second time I ask you and you send me no info to the payment. Anyways. good luck with your business.


So....

If I don't recognize a customer I always ask if they can open vectors. Sometimes sign shops direct a customer to me that cannot open vectors. They in turn send my vector back to that sign shop for output. They may not be able to answer questions about the art if they are unfamiliar with vector files. So I am not sure what was up with the "doubt my identity" comment.

The reason it took more than one email was because the font appeared custom If they knew the font I could simply typeset and save them some costs.

And lastly I did clearly state my payment requirement

 

[J Hill Designs]

twice in a bucket, ____ it.

 

[Marlene]

wow, what a jerk!

 

[The Vector Doctor]

The english/grammer is a bit off so perhaps there is a language barrier? I followed up with 2 emails to ask why he made these comments but got no reply

 

[Andy D]

Please let me know how much you will charge for vectorization.

Lol, this is right on par with one of our customers asking "How much are your signs"
Thanks for the post, it's good to know we all have to deal with idiots.

 

[Billct2]

Doesn't sound like a customer I'd want

 

[rjssigns]

Whenever a call comes in I start by saying we have a shop minimum charge. Most times I hear, click....bzzzzzzzzzzz.

Cool, didn't want to work with you either Mr. Tire Kicker.

The ones that stay on the line have been good to work with, less headaches and more profitable.

 

[ChaseO]

Lol, this is right on par with one of our customers asking "How much are your signs"
Thanks for the post, it's good to know we all have to deal with idiots.

Consider yourself lucky. I've been asked, "how much per letter". Typically those kind of people are looking for mailbox numbers and they only have a couple of minutes to prove themselves before I direct them to Wal-Mart.

 

[rjssigns]

Consider yourself lucky. I've been asked, "how much per letter". Typically those kind of people are looking for mailbox numbers and they only have a couple of minutes to prove themselves before I direct them to Wal-Mart.

Or the guys that stop by with their $75,000 bass boat and tell you your prices are too high.

 

[Gino]

Edna has teal come back..... I've been tellin' you guys this periwinkle for months.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Having managed this forum for 12 years now, I can confirm that reading comprehension is a widespread problem.

 

[Andy D]

Having managed this forum for 12 years now, I can confirm that reading comprehension is a widespread problem.

WHAT? Are you implying that we sign makers are not perfect in every way?

 

[threeputt]

Or the guys that stop by with their $75,000 bass boat and tell you your prices are too high.

Yep.

 

[oksigns]

The english/grammer is a bit off so perhaps there is a language barrier? I followed up with 2 emails to ask why he made these comments but got no reply

I've seen this before. Either English is a second language and/or they are a customer off the street and are not very savvy with the process at all. You can tell they re-read the initial email because they were compelled to call you out on something that rubbed them the wrong way. This just screams "off the street/passerby " customer to me.

 

[Gino]

When people stop in you don't know, or e-mail you that you don't know..... do what all the other vendors do and ask them for their customer number. When they say wha.....?? Tell them they must register with you and fill out a form.... the Tax Exemption form. That'll stop the needless dumb discussions.


Please let me know how much you will charge for vectorization.


Customer number, please.


Click......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[gabagoo]

This is so typical of email responses. You asked a set of questions and they answer one and then get pissed with you. Oh sometimes I wish email was never invented....at least had you spoken to him you would have been able to fully explain yourself and also would have been able to go through each bit of info until you got what you needed.

 

[thinksigns]

I think his "doubt my identity" means he took your "I cannot find anything on you" to mean you Googled him or his business and did not find anything. Maybe if you said "I cannot find you in our customer database."

 

[TXFB.INS]

This is so typical of email responses. You asked a set of questions and they answer one and then get pissed with you. Oh sometimes I wish email was never invented....at least had you spoken to him you would have been able to fully explain yourself and also would have been able to go through each bit of info until you got what you needed.

I disagree, it is far easier to decipher the written word then the spoken word.
with the amount of bad grammar being used in today's society, we have had to relearn / train our selves to read between the lines.

spoken words are so much more challenging

the other point is there is a record of what was said, unless you record your conversations,

I think his "doubt my identity" means he took your "I cannot find anything on you" to mean you Googled him or his business and did not find anything. Maybe if you said "I cannot find you in our customer database."

+1

or, something like " for first time customers, listed below are our guidelines, policies and needed information you get you set up in our system"

 

[The Vector Doctor]

I try to avoid asking them too many questions about who they are in the initial email. I believe many customers want to email anonymously. Once an order is placed I will then ask for business info or at least a city/state for reference. So when they talk about turnaround times I know what time zone they are in. Or a phone number to call if that is easier. Sometimes I could be talking to someone in the UK or Australia and have no idea

I get dozens of quote requests each day that never pan out for various reasons. About half of my emails from new customers have no info in their signature or they use a gmail/yahoo or some other free email that gives no further info on their identity

I have sent thousands of emails and this one was a unique reply. Thought I would share

The only other memorable email was someone who asked for a quote and their reply to my price was "go f&ck yourself". Their reply was not censored like this though.

 

[threeputt]

You asked a set of questions and they answer one and then get pissed with you.

So true. Often we will ask several questions for clarity on a job. The client reads the first one and answers it and hits "send". So dumb and unprofessional.

What I've taken to doing, to try and offset this, is stating that there are several things I need clarity on, and then actually numbering each one like this: 1) Do you wish keep the... 2) How many of the little.... 3) Is the font....etc.

That way they are disinclined to simply answer the first question. I've found this method can cut down on the volume of back and forth emails for a single job. Not perfect, but it has helped.